Ebola: Fashola says schools in Lagos may not resume September 22, gets WHO commendation

Lagos State Government yesterday said its primary and public schools may not resume on September 22 as directed by the federal government.
Governor Babatunde Fashola made the disclosure when he received the Country Representative of the World Health Organization, Mr. Rui Van Gaz who paid him a courtesy visit in his office.

“The state government is in the process of ascertaining through scientific risk evaluation, whether it will accept the date announced by the Federal Government,” he said.

He added that if evaluation showed that children would be at risk on resumption, Lagos schools would not open on September 22.

Earlier, Mr. Van Gaz, on behalf of the entire leadership of WHO commended Governor Fashola and his team for their efforts at containing of Ebola virus.
He urged the state government to avoid being complacent due to the apparent drop in the number of Ebola cases, saying the war had not been won until the virus was entirely wiped out.

“On schools resumption, we need to ensure that the schools are fully prepared in terms of availability of water, soaps and sanitizers,” said the envoy.

“The teachers must be fully aware of what needed to be done when they are faced with any suspected case of Ebola Virus Disease, EVD in their school. The students must be enlightened about the symptoms of the deadly disease.

“Even though the number of Ebola cases has reduced and most of the contacts are out of the 21-day quarantine, we should avoid any complacency.

“Until the last case is over and surveillance completed, we should not relent in the effort at tackling the disease. We need to learn from this experience by not only dealing with the disease but to strengthen the entire health system in the country.”

DailyPost gathered that members of the State Executive Council, SEC, and other stakeholders’ especially private schools operators, met Thursday on the issue.